Bonaparte man's chicken lays a whopper of an egg

Feb. 27, 2011

A hen living on the outskirts of Bonaparte has residents in the small southeast Iowa town clucking.

Aussie, a black Australorp chicken, laid a giant egg on Feb. 18.

The light brown egg weighs 4.1 ounces, and measures 3½ inches long and 6½ inches in circumference, according to Nathan Batten, the hen's owner.

Large eggs in grocery stores weigh about half as much, while jumbo eggs weigh about 2½ ounces, according to USDA regulations.

"It's big. It's twice the size of a large egg," said Iowa State University professor Hongwei Xin, director of the school's egg industry center.

The egg is large enough that Batten, 37, is calling his colossal prize "egg-normous."

Batten said he had trouble sleeping the day the egg popped out. He called the local paper, and a reporter took his picture and wrote a story about Aussie's achievement.

For a couple of days afterward, Batten carried the egg in his coat pocket to show people around town.

His friends working at the convenience store took one look and asked: "You sure that chicken isn't half beast?"

"It probably has about two miles on it from me walking," Batten said. "I'm lucky that dang thing never broke."

The egg is now safely stored in his refrigerator, he said.

An egg approaching that size is unusual, but not unheard of, egg experts said.

Sean Skeehan, who raises chickens at Blue Gate Farm in Chariton, said the size of an egg depends on the breed of chicken - not what it's fed.

He said his large chicken breeds have laid eggs approaching 6 inches in circumference, but acknowledged 4.1 ounces is unusually heavy.

Chickens are generally consistent in the size of eggs they lay, so he said it's no surprise that Batten reported Aussie - an Australian breed of chicken known for producing a high volume of eggs - usually lays eggs weighing about 3 ounces.

"Those are big eggs," Skeehan said.

Xin, the ISU professor, said last year a university Extension employee called him about a couple of large eggs bred by a producer near Winterset.

The eggs were about as long as the one laid by Aussie. A story appeared on a local TV newscast, he said.

Batten said he plans to contact Guinness World Records in England to see if he and Aussie have made history.

In a state dotted with towns claiming to own several of the world's largest oddities - a gigantic frying pan in Brandon and an enormous strawberry in Strawberry Point - Batten figures this is his chance to finally put Bonaparte on the map.

"After all, this is Van Buren County, and tourism is the main attraction around here," he said.

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